Wow, A Truly Gorgious Day On The Lake

When you travel to the same spot year after year you get to know special places which you love, and others you avoid.

Mittry Lake, not far from Yuma is a spot people tend to like and revisit time after time.

And because we have been at Mittry Lake several times we chose it as our destination for this beautiful day when temps reached 26C (78.8F). 

We had called friends who would meet us there around noon. 

But we try to combine pleasure with useful things, so we had loaded up 2 empty propane cylinders and 2 empty jerry cans. Both propane and gasoline are significantly cheaper in Arizona than in California.

So first stop was at the propane place where the owner lady had just finished with another customer when we pulled in. Of course, after many previous visits she knows us and our van. This time she even asked where we were from. I think she was surprised by the distance we had traveled from home.

Next on the agenda was a quick stop at Walmart to get 6 of their great donuts. Last point on the list was gasoline. Here I want to say that we enjoy 25cts off the pump price at Circle K, as we have registered our cell phone #. This rebate runs for 5 visits, but as we have 2 cell phones we are having 10 fills (Gal. unlimited) with that rebate. Today that rebate came to $7.50.

16Street in Yuma runs straight east out of town and eventually becomes AZ-Hwy95 north to Quartzsite.

We made our turnoff to Mittry Lake which runs along agricultural fields planted with cabbage, lettuce and cauliflower. Many of the fields had already been harvested, while others had just started when the recent big rain turned the fields into muddy pits, where machines couldn't go anymore. Those areas are now representing sizable losses for the farmers.

Soon after the paved road turns into a gravel road, the lake comes into view. It is a beautiful natural habitat for birds, administered by the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the Bureau of Land Management.

Unfortunately, the traffic of off-road vehicles has grown out of proportions and is seriously disturbing the otherwise peaceful surroundings. Motorized outdoor recreation has become a major problem in the area. Obviously it is also allowed to use very fast going speedboats on the lake, and one doesn't need to wonder about the dire consequences for the many species of water fowl living on the lake. 

Way back in 2008 we had camped a couple of nights along the lake. There was less traffic back then. 

It is still nice to spend a couple of hours at the lake, but camping would be out of the question for us.

We stopped at one of the jetties sticking out into the lake. After our friends arrived we sat on the outer end of the jetty just enjoying the beautiful view across the lake. We had brought sandwiches, coffee and --- the donuts!!

Dixie also had a great time, after sleeping a round on the jetty, she started to walk around always looking over the edge into the water. It seemed she was listening to something, and eventually we figured out that most likely it was the sound of the small waves lapping against the jetty which had caught her curiosity.

Bob is always having a good time with Dixie

It was good catching up with our friends Bob and Karen som are from PEI and have an even longer travel route than us, though they don't bring down their RV as that is parked year-round in a local RV-Park.

We said Good Bye to them for now, but plan to meet again next month.